HELPFULNESS 4 - Point others to Jesus, who can help them!

Helpfulness 4 - English files

Hilfsbereitschaft 4 - German files

Devotional Thoughts about Mark 2:1-12

From the three Gospels telling this story we learn a bare minimum about the people who brought a paralyzed man to Jesus: there were four of them. We don’t know their age, sex, rank or nationality, but they were probably relatives or friends of the lame man. Who else would be persistent enough to do what it took to get him to Jesus?

This incident seems to have happened in the second year of Jesus’ ministry when He was very popular in Galilee. Word had spread that He was teaching, and the house was packed out. Sick people were in the audience as well as scribes and Pharisees who were already waiting for evidence of blasphemy in Jesus’ words.

As nobody was willing to budge to make room for another sick person, the helpers had to come up with another solution. They carried the man up to the roof (surely by an outer staircase), removed some planks above Jesus' head and began lowering the bed (which in illustrations looks either like a board or a hammock) to put the man in front of Jesus.

Jesus tells us the only other thing we know about the people who’d brought the man: they had faith. He told the man his sins were forgiven. Of course that excited the scribes, who thought they’d caught Jesus in blasphemy. Jesus added that he could get up and walk, which he did. The audience glorified God.

Lord, please help me to act in faith like the friends of the lame man and bring people to You.

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HELPFULNESS 3 - You can share God's love by helping.

Helpfulness 3 - English file

Hilfsbereitschaft 3 - German file

Devotional Thoughts about Acts 9:36-42

The story of Tabitha is contained in just a little blurb at the end of the chapter about Saul’s conversion and preceding the report in Chapter 10 of Peter’s amazing experience and realization of the breadth of God’s love for people other than Jews.

This story isn’t about apostles, although Peter plays a role in this story. The focus is on the life of an ordinary Christian woman. Her death brought a group of mourning widows together, and when Peter arrived, he was in for a show-and-tell session. Each woman showed him garments Tabitha had made and given to meet her family's needs.

Tabitha's help for these marginalized women had already shown them God’s love. Those among them who hadn’t yet believed on Jesus were surely among the many in Joppa who were saved after the miracle.

Lord, please make me ready to help people because I love You, even if nobody else finds out about it.

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HELPFULNESS 2 - Helpers are very important.

Helpfulness 2 - English files

Hilfsbereitschaft 2 - German files

Devotional Thoughts about Barnabas

It’s an instructive exercise tracking the appearances of Barnabas throughout the Book of Acts. His first one (4:36,37) shows us that the name by which we all know him is actually a nickname betraying his most obvious virtue: encouragement. He sold a field and gave the money to help poor people in the church.

When Christians in Jerusalem were still afraid of Saul despite the news of his conversion, Barnabas accepted him and then introduced him to the apostles. After Saul had spent some time in his hometown of Tarsus avoiding Jews who wanted to kill him, it was Barnabas who looked him up again and they both helped in the church in Antioch.

The Holy Spirit chose Barnabas and Saul from among the prophets and teachers in Antioch for a special assignment, (13:2-5), and the church sent them out to evan­gelize in Asia Minor. John Mark, a nephew of Barnabas (see Col. 4:12), went along to help them, but unfortunately he soon quit and went home.

When Paul proposed another journey a few years later to visit the believers from their first trip, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along again, but Paul was against it. As they couldn’t agree, Paul chose Silas for the trip while Barnabas went to Cyprus with his nephew. 

Shortly before his death, Paul spoke highly of John Mark (see 2 Timothy 4:11), which suggests that the young man had matured in the meantime. His uncle had surely played a large role in mentoring him. Lord, please let me see opportunities to help and encourage others for Your glory.

Downloading lesson files

If you're interested in the lesson files, simply click on the appropriate link above to download them in the desired language. See the Informational Pages in the right column for more about the lesson series. The next post and the next lesson will be the third in the topic Helpfulness. 

HELPFULNESS 1 - Two are better than one.

Helpfulness 1 - English file

Hilfsbereitschaft 1 - German file

Devotional Thoughts about Exodus 17:8-16

This passage tells about the first battle for the Israelites fresh out of slavery. God had led them out of Egypt by a detour to avoid war with the Philistines (Exodus 13:17,18), but here Moses gave directions for fighting the Amalekites who had been lying in wait to attack them (1 Samuel 15:2).

Moses appointed Joshua to lead the battle while he himself stood on a hill holding his walking stick. Moses would raise his hands from time to time, probably in prayer for the battle. A connection between what was happening down in the battle and up on the hill was soon obvious: when Moses’ hands were up, Israel was winning, and when it was down, the Amalekites were.

Of course it’s hard for anyone to hold up a hand up for very long, and sure enough Moses’ hands got very heavy. That’s when Aaron and Hur came to help, bringing him a rock to sit on and holding up his hands. They shared his burden for Israel and assisted him in praying. Of course the victory came from God.

God directed that an account of the battle should be written down in a book and read to Joshua, perhaps as an encouragement to the person who would one day lead Israel to conquer Canaan.

Lord, please help me remember that we all need Your help as well as that of others. And thank you for the promise of Your presence when several of us gather in Your name (Matthew 18:20).

Downloading lesson files

If you're interested in the lesson file, simply click on the appropriate link above to download it in the desired language. See the Informational Pages in the right column for more about the lesson series. The next post and the next lesson will be the second in the topic Helpfulness.